Russia today – Анонимный чат России

What are they currently producing at the Riga plant that produced the legendary RAFs? Posting in CHAT: Russia In 1975, the Riga Bus Plant began assembling the most famous Soviet minibuses - RAF-2203 “Latvia”. This car should be familiar even to those who did not live in the Soviet Union at an adult age, because RAFIX traveled along the roads of the former Soviet Union until the early 2000s. Over the decades of production, various cars have appeared on the original 2203 platform. But today we will not talk about them, but about the plant itself. What is produced at the RAF today The history of the RAF (from Latvian: Rigas busu fabrika) dates back to the pre-war period of the 20th century. In the very center of Riga on Terbatas Street, even before the Second World War, the workshops of Deitsmanis and Potreki were located. After the arrival of Soviet power in Latvia, the second Riga auto repair shop was founded on the basis of nationalized and socialized workshops. After the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet leadership began to think about developing its own bus production in Latvia. To achieve this goal, it was decided to reorganize RARZ No. 2 into RZAK. For several years, RZAK worked in cooperation with other Soviet engineering enterprises, until it was finally merged with REAF in the early 1950s. In turn, RZAK was founded by the Soviet leadership of Latvia at the facilities of an old metalworking plant. . Initially, the company developed cars for the Red Army. Thanks to the merger of REAF and RZAK in 1951, that same plant was born. The first buses of Riga residents, as usual, during the development of production were copies of products from other companies. In 1953, the first two dozen RAF-651s rolled off the assembly line of the Riga plant, which were a copy of the GZA-651 produced by GAZ. The first bus, or rather a minibus, was created by the residents of Riga in the late 1950s after becoming familiar with the products of the famous German brand Volkswagen. A group of designers led by J. Ositis, G. Sils and Laimonis Klege RAF-10 “Festival” The first pancake turned out to be lumpy, but already in 1958 the people of Riga eliminated almost all the shortcomings of the RAF-10. this drew criticism. Later, another model appeared - RAF-8, but it was not widely used. But the invaluable experience gained during the first project made it possible to create the RAF-977 “Latvia”. Ironically, there was not enough capacity for large-scale production of the 977 in Riga, so the development was transferred to Yerevan ErAZ and Lugansk LAZ. However, it was “Latvia” that became the first real success of the Riga residents. Since the 1960s, the first minibus of the Latvian SSR was delivered to dozens of countries, and not only socialist ones. The first RAFs were even purchased from Iran and India. In 1976, the RAF was significantly expanded by opening new workshops, which allowed it to produce an additional 17 thousand vehicles annually. At the same time, large-scale production of those same RAF-2203 began. In addition, not only minibuses, but also all kinds of special vehicles were made on the basis of the original minibus. For example, “RAFIKs” made excellent ambulances and even fire trucks! The first problems at the Riga plant began in the late 1980s. The quality level of the plant's products fell sharply, which caused a terrible scandal, followed by the resignation of management. A few years later they tried to modernize the enterprise, but it was never completed due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the RAF plant was privatized and transformed into a joint stock company. Later, the enterprise suffered the fate of many other factories in the former Soviet republics... The people of Riga tried to make their last breakthrough in 1993, introducing the new model RAF Stills. However, the plant’s products “unexpectedly” turned out to be of no use to anyone due to the influx of foreign cars on the post-Soviet market. The final nail in the coffin of the RAF was the deployment of its own production of Gazelles in Russia. In 1997, the Riga company was liquidated, and only a year later it was declared bankrupt. The residents of Riga could not survive the loss of the all-Soviet market and the severance of established cooperative ties. In the 2000s, the issue of reviving the RAF was repeatedly raised both at the initiative of Western partners and at the initiative of the Russian GAZ. In 2018, negotiations between Gorky and Riga residents took place again. However, it was not possible to create a new joint venture that would produce buses, electric cars and minibuses. Source link Source link